The Petra Zone

Does anyone out there know the reason why the original band members left Petra,Bill Glover, John Degroff, And Greg Hough? I have not been able to find any information about this on the internet

Basically the band sucked in that period 72 - 76 so the other guys did what ever they did for a living cause the band wasn't a full time thing, Bob kept the band going.. the big pay off was in 1977 with GXV in the band, slowly by 1981 they became superstars... 86' John Schlitt took it to a new level.. until the bands decline in 1995 when Bob left.

Ok, for starters, the band did not suck during that period. Some of us appreciate the music from that time very much. On top of that, those guys were still with the band when they made Come and Join Us in 1977 with Greg X Volz as a guest vocalist. I am not exactly sure why the guys didn't stay with the band, but from I've heard about those times, I suspect it probably had more to do with internal conflicts, than it did with the band not being viable, especially after 77. Even Rob Frazier has suggested that during his time with the band in 79, internal relationships were somewhat chaotic.

Preacherman777 wrote:Ok, for starters, the band did not suck during that period. Some of us appreciate the music from that time very much. On top of that, those guys were still with the band when they made Come and Join Us in 1977 with Greg X Volz as a guest vocalist. I am not exactly sure why the guys didn't stay with the band, but from I've heard about those times, I suspect it probably had more to do with internal conflicts, than it did with the band not being viable, especially after 77. Even Rob Frazier has suggested that during his time with the band in 79, internal relationships were somewhat chaotic.

None of those albums before Never Say Die charted, had a single on radio, sold well. Come on. It's one thing for us to appreciate those first records. A n over the top fan would buy into everything a band has done. Some people are not into that old style of music. Fine. To them it sucks. Fine. Commercially, it was not viable. The church didn't buy it. Hardly anyone did.

There was chaos. Some of the members continued to fight demons of their past. Some created some themselves. It was Bob that drove the bus. It was his band. He is the one constant. That speaks volumes on many levels.

There is bound to be conflict when you have a group of people together on the road, even if they are good friends and get along well for the most part. Being away from home, the close quarters and lack of rest are enough to drag at anyone. There have been a lot of Petra members who have come and gone over the years. I enjoy the old stuff, although I realize not everyone will.

I don't think they sucked either back in that time period. The music was what it was, not openly accepted by the church, or to many christians at that time. Which is kind of strange being that the christian movement was peaking at that time.

I do feel that there were many good, powerful songs on those first two albums. I might be alone, but I really like the first album. It really was the first christian rock sound of it's time. Say what you will about Bob, but if it wasn't for him, we'd all be listening to Bill Gaither.

I second that.

None of those albums before Never Say Die charted, had a single on radio, sold well. Come on. It's one thing for us to appreciate those first records. A n over the top fan would buy into everything a band has done. Some people are not into that old style of music. Fine. To them it sucks. Fine. Commercially, it was not viable. The church didn't buy it. Hardly anyone did.

I was not trying to make the case that they were commercially viable. Rather I was just saying that they were viable enough (on whatever terms) to keep the original line up going for two albums and then to survive for two more albums until they got somewhere. Beyond that, I was just saying it's not a given by any means that the band sucked back then.

I might be alone, but I really like the first album.

You are not alone.

shawnpfan01 wrote: Say what you will about Bob, but if it wasn't for him, we'd all be listening to Bill Gaither.

No way. Bob did not invent Christian rock. Elvis was rocking the Christian tunes long before Petra. He exposed the world to Christian groups and featured them as preshow events. Then we have all of the Jesus music rockers out there. There were secular artists who were Christians putting out music as well.

shawnpfan01 wrote:I don't think they sucked either back in that time period. The music was what it was, not openly accepted by the church, or to many christians at that time. Which is kind of strange being that the christian movement was peaking at that time.

I do feel that there were many good, powerful songs on those first two albums. I might be alone, but I really like the first album. It really was the first christian rock sound of it's time. Say what you will about Bob, but if it wasn't for him, we'd all be listening to Bill Gaither.

Do some research http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_music

The Church didn't care about the first two albums, no one did until the band was know in 79', never say die was the problem.

To be fair, wikipedia isn't "research" in the strictest sense of the term.

separateunion wrote:To be fair, wikipedia isn't "research" in the strictest sense of the term.

Cite a better source than if you know one.

danielaussie wrote:

separateunion wrote:To be fair, wikipedia isn't "research" in the strictest sense of the term.

Cite a better source than if you know one.

Wikipedia does have it's uses, however, you have to be aware that it is a "living encyclopedia" in that anyone can edit or add to entries as they see fit. Now, there are rules and discussions to keep it from getting too out of hand, but wikipedia is not a good source when it comes to fact checking. If you were writing a paper for a high school or college class and cited wikipedia as a source, your paper would get thrown in the trash. Does this mean everything in wikipedia is false? No, but you can't trust everything that's in there either.

separateunion wrote:

danielaussie wrote:

separateunion wrote:To be fair, wikipedia isn't "research" in the strictest sense of the term.

Cite a better source than if you know one.

Wikipedia does have it's uses, however, you have to be aware that it is a "living encyclopedia" in that anyone can edit or add to entries as they see fit. Now, there are rules and discussions to keep it from getting too out of hand, but wikipedia is not a good source when it comes to fact checking. If you were writing a paper for a high school or college class and cited wikipedia as a source, your paper would get thrown in the trash. Does this mean everything in wikipedia is false? No, but you can't trust everything that's in there either.

Edward wrote:

shawnpfan01 wrote: Say what you will about Bob, but if it wasn't for him, we'd all be listening to Bill Gaither.

No way. Bob did not invent Christian rock. Elvis was rocking the Christian tunes long before Petra. He exposed the world to Christian groups and featured them as preshow events. Then we have all of the Jesus music rockers out there. There were secular artists who were Christians putting out music as well.

Did I miss something that I said? I don't recall saying that Bob invented christian rock music, I know that there were many bands before Petra, but how many bands stayed with it for as long as Petra did, not too many as far as I know. Yes some people are still around today as single acts but no band lasted as long as Petra.

Look at all the bands that rose up in the eighties and fized out just as fast.

Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong.